noun
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the act of seducing or the state of being seduced
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a means of seduction
Usage
What does seduction mean? Seduction is the act of making someone want to engage in sexual activity with you, especially in a subtle or manipulative way. Seduction is also commonly used in a more general way meaning the act of tempting or influencing someone to do something, especially something bad or something they wouldn’t normally do. Though this sense of the word does not involve sex, it’s still often thought of as a metaphor for the type of seduction that does. Both senses of the word often imply a subtle manipulation in which one’s motives are hidden. Seduction is the noun form of the verb seduce. People or things that seduce or that are capable of seduction are said to be seductive. Example: Don’t be fooled by his charm and his seduction—he only wants one thing.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of seduction
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin sēductiōn-, stem of sēductiō “a leading aside,” from sēduct(us) “led aside” (past participle of sēdūcere “to lead aside”; see seduce) + -iō -ion
Explanation
Use the noun seduction when you're talking about a devious kind of persuasion, in which you cajole or charm someone into going along with your evil plan. You can also use seduction to mean a romantic attraction, especially if one person sets out to attract the other. The Latin root is seducere, "lead away or lead astray." Originally, seduction only referred to a man enticing a woman into romance, and not the other way around.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Politics is about persuasion, seduction even, and prime ministers seem to have forgotten this is an almost constant process of wooing voters, MPs and civil servants to keep them driving your agenda forward.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
After this first charged encounter, the initial gesture between them is not seduction.
From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2026
WASHINGTON—A former Federal Reserve official was found not guilty Tuesday of conspiring to share confidential central-bank information with Chinese intelligence officers, capping a case that featured spycraft, online seduction and a blackmail scam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
“Of the seven deadly sins, all but sloth emerge from the seduction that beckons.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2024
Yet Alice Manfred swore she heard a complicated anger in it; something hostile that disguised itself as flourish and roaring seduction.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
Sonic Youth pulls the throttle all the way out: Moore threads drumsticks into his guitar strings, Ranaldo utilizes an electric drill onstage, Gordon barks out her bold feminist anthems on the seductions of consumer-driven desire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
“Licorice Pizza” has its seductions, most notably Alana.
From New York Times ● Nov. 25, 2021
There was rhapsody in these musical seductions — and the calculation that the way to theater lovers’ hearts was through their cast albums.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 27, 2021
And yet she herself was vulnerable to the seductions of one of the most famous, and infamous, musicians of that time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2021
How strange and novel did the conviction strike him that all the benefit of his vast riches lay in the pleasure of their accumulation, that for him fortune had no seductions to offer!
From The Knight Of Gwynne, Vol. II (of II) by Lever, Charles James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
